There are different ways to set up an online shop. Magento and a popular WordPress plugin are two of them. More on that in the post.
Introduction
The topic of eCommerce, i.eThe purchase of goods over the Internet, is becoming increasingly important even if it has increased enormously in the last 10 to 20 years. The need to order things online and deliver them quickly, safely, and cheaply is increasing. Entrepreneurs also see opportunities here to open up new sales channels. However, an approach is required for implementing these online shops. You can program everything from scratch, for example, with PHP, .NET, Java, or another programming language. Or you can rely on online shop systems such as Magento (Mg) or WooCommerce (Woo for short).
The Advantage Of Frameworks
Develop Faster
You could also call Magento and WooCommerce frameworks. The advantage is that you can develop faster with it than if you would program everything from scratch. For example, both solutions already include the shopping cart or product pages in the standard package. This also means that you can have an online shop online much faster. With WooCommerce, a well-known WordPress eCommerce plugin, you can put a web shop online in a few hours. Provided you are familiar with it. You can set up a high-performance online shop with Magento in just a few days.
Lower Costs
The development costs are also lower. Developing an eCommerce sales shop from scratch, for example, with PHP, can take several months and may cost more than 20,000 euros. And that would be a simple shop. However, with Woo or Mg, you can build complex solutions without wasting too much time and costs for web developers.
Fewer Mistakes
The Magento and WooCommerce community is constantly working to fix bugs. How to fix bugs in the code. These bug fixes can be implemented in the existing solution with just a few clicks. So you can program them yourself.
Free And Premium Plugins
There are many standard functionalities that online shops have. These can be implemented using so-called plugins or extensions. Woo and Mg have special plugin stores where you can look for suitable extensions. For example, WooCommerce has the All in One SEO Plugin. This allows you to make extensive search engine optimizations for your shop.
You even get it for free. If you need premium functionalities, you have to pay a monthly fee (for example, if the website admins also want to do SEO editing). Magento also offers corresponding plugins here. However, many are more likely to be had for a fee. But here, too, the prices are manageable. These are usually between 50 and 200 euros per plugin.
Which System Is Better?
You can’t necessarily say that one shop system is better than the other. You have to look at the individual requirements.
Small Stores
Suppose you want to set up a small shop with a few products (up to 100) and have a small budget. Then it makes sense to rely on WooCommerce. One should also assume that web traffic, i.e., the number of visitors to the Internet, should be between 100 and 10,000 per day. Because if the number of Internet visitors is too high, this could affect the performance of the WooCommerce shop. For example, loading times could increase (the web visitor has to wait a long time for a page to load). However, many entrepreneurs only need small shops. The flower shop next door can work very well with Woo.
Ease Of Use
The WordPress plugin is also relatively easy to use. Even a layman can work with it. However, it only makes sense to involve an appropriate developer supporting the development to set it up. Magento is a little different. You need an experienced Magento programmer who knows how the shop system works when developing the shop. This programmer should also be familiar with, for example, the Zend Framework on which Mg is based.
Maintenance
Woo is also much easier to maintain. Some of the updates can be imported with one click. With Mg, however, you need expert help. For example, the transition from Mg 1 to Mg 2 is very complex. Some of the code has to be rewritten. Of course, this leads to more costs and more time and effort to implement the whole thing.
Search Engine Optimization
Regarding SEO (short for search engine optimization), Woo may have the edge because it is based on WordPress, which is known for being found well on Google. However, if you plan more complex SEO measures, then a Magento implementation makes more sense. Because here you have a lot more options.
Who Relies On Which Solution?
As already mentioned, self-employed and small business owners, in particular, use Woo to set up a small webshop. Mg is often about corporations that want to set up their shop for their specialist departments or special product groups. For example, a company like Samsung could launch a new smartphone. To promote this, it could set up a Magento eCommerce store. This is then developed and operated in cooperation with an agency. But why should the group rely on such a solution?
If the group is that big, it can also have a new shop programmed from the ground up. The answer is that even the development of a completely new shop and its maintenance is already too complex. It makes more sense to rely on a shop solution since it’s about allowing the buyers to access the shop online and place orders. Mg offers the right options here. Many medium-sized companies also rely on Mg to set up a shop. For example, a large football club could set up a shop so that fans could buy fan articles through the shop. Here, too, an in-house development makes no sense. Because the focus of the football club is “playing great football” and not “selling products in an online shop.”
What Alternatives Are There?
Alternatives to WooCommerce are solutions like Shopify. Shopify, in particular, offers an even simpler solution for running eCommerce. An alternative to Magento is Shopware.
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